The courier ship "Dexter Benjamin" is named after a one-legged bicycle courier from Trinidad who currently works in New York City. The "Satomaru" is named after Hoshi Sato; "maru" is a suffix that the Japanese tack onto the name of ships. I had planned to set Silva and Edward's ages based on the actors, but the way that would have worked, Silva would have been 20 and Edward 12 when Geordi was born, so I aged Silva 3 years and Edward 8 years. Also, the planet Verena III is named after Ben Vereen, the actor who played Dr. Edward LaForge.